An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”

Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?” as he smiled smugly.

“OK,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps.Why do you suppose that is?”

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don’t know shit?”

Therefore, God exists…??? I realize that theists have always had inherent difficulties in making their case, but I didn’t realize it had gotten this bad. Was there an argument, or even a point, somewhere in that quip? I certainly laughed out loud.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s not about making sense. It’s about saying things that people like to hear. I’ll never learn.

I have no problem with anybody’s belief, it is their right and privilege. All I have to do is plane a piece of wood, add a little varnish and take a long look at the wonderous beauty and ask myself how anyone can disprove how this was created – can’t be by accident !!!

I don’t think the little girls comments were to question the wisdom of being an athiest but more of an illustration of why should she waste her time debating with someone whom had not thought out their own position. We are inundated with instant ‘experts’ in the media all the time but I suspect they’d not pass the little girls test either.

I laughed out loud when I read this also!

-- "Checking for square? What madness is this! The cabinet is square because I will it to be so!" Jeremy Greiner LJ Topic#20953 2011 Feb 2

This joke is a classic example of informal logical fallacy, a logical error in the argument’s content. In other words the little girl incorrectly assumes that if A has no valid opinion on subject matter X, then A can not have valid opinion on subject matter Y, X not being a prerequisite or related to Y.…Albert Einstein: “How about theory of relativity” as he smiled smugly.Little girl: “This could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”Albert Einstein: “Hmmm, I have no idea.”Little girl: “Do you really feel qualified to discuss theory of relativity, when you don’t know shit?”…This chain of argumentation for a third grader is understandable.

Yep.. gotta love that they brought back a non-woodworking forum… coming from an Atheist that does knows his “shit” ... why a cow makes patties and a deer makes pellets and a horse clumps … and why this forum gets this “shit” as well … yay… sigh… I wish there was a way to only get notices of people projects not posts from this forum… instead since I don’t want this “shit”.. I gotta let people go from the buddy list… sigh.

-- " 'Truth' is like a beautiful flower, unique to each plant and to the season it blossoms ... 'Fact' is the root and leaf, allowing the plant grow and bloom again."

That little girl does not know much about animals. For example, deer eat very little grass. Anyone in deer territory with a lawn and a garden knows this all too well. According to this article, “grasses comprise only a very small part of the overall diet of the white-tailed deer, usually less than 10%.”

My only suggestion is that the next time someone wants to interject what they believe to be a cleaver jab at a particular demographic, at least adjust the fallacy to accommodate the target audience. For example:

An atheist was seated next to Righteous Rachel at the Lie-Nielsen workshop on plane sharpening and he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? These workshops go much quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow hand-tool enthusiast.”

Righteous Rachel, who had just started using hand planes, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”

Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no tool God, or no perfect zero degree cutting angle, or no Stanley #1 smoothing plane really worth what collectors are willing to pay” as he smiled smugly.

“OK,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. Black and Decker, DeWalt, and Porter-Cable have all shifted production to China and made a fortune as a result. Yet people are willing to pay premium prices for one brand and not the other simply because of product placement.Why do you suppose that is?”

The atheist, visibly surprised by Righteous Rachel’s annoying precociousness and wanting to slap her silly, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea. Isn’t there some G8 summit you should be attending instead of asking me these dumb-ass questions?”

To which Righteous Rachel replies, “What are you a communist? Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no tool God, no perfect zero degree cutting angle, or no Stanley #1 smoothing plane really worth what collectors are willing to pay, when you don’t know shit about capitalism?”

For those defending the atheist, I think you miss the point: atheist, theist, or deist, they all assert a position upon the state of the person after death that they in no way can have knowledge on. It’s more about asserting your beliefs (or nonbeliefs) without any real knowledge. We just like to assert that we know and we’re correct. The little girl is just putting him in his place. the only reason it’s really funny is because it’s a 5 year old doing it.